Posts Tagged GM

So, airbrushing Burning Gundam, Day 3, was interesting. After letting the parts dry and looking at them, I realized that I probably should of assembled and glued parts of it first. So, I took several parts (most already primed) glued them together, and sanded the seams down as much as I could. This took about a day. I then re-primed the parts I worked on, plus several others, but something awful happened before I could finish… I ran out of primer.

So, I had to wait until I got my next paycheck to order more. When I went looking for primer, I calculated that I would need several bottles to finish this kit and start others, like my Unicorn. So, after look and looking and looking, I decided to swtich from Mr. Primer 1000 to Alclad 2 grey primer. Mostly, I’m switching because of the cost/volume ratio, but also because Alclad 2 comes pre-thinned for airbrushing. I’m waiting for the primer to ship and be delivered, so not much work is going to happen until then.

However, I’ve decided to top-coat my older kits. The 08th MS Team Gundam and Zaku are being cleaned before I spray them with Future Shine. I’m also going to top-coat Wing Gundam and SD Wing Zero. I hope to have these done in a few days.

September was an awesome month for my backlog, for several reasons. First, I found not one, but two rare Turn-A-Gundam kits! These FLATs are the suits the main character comes to Earth in. I’m thinking I’m going to paint one red, to represent the Earth-Militia Flat. We’ll see once I get them prebuilt.

Another rare kit I got was the Gundam Front Tokyo edition Real Grade RX-78-2. Not only is this my first Real Grade kit, but it’s also the first duplicate suit model I’ve purchased. I now own two RX-78-2 kits!

Finally, the three Powered GMs are the first time I’ve bought multiples of the same model kit. I’ve got plans for these… First, I’m working on a tutorial series that will use these three kits. I’m going to show the difference between OOB, glue+markers, and airbrushing kit builds. Afterwards the OOB and glue+marker kits will be cleaned up, then airbrushed for another test; Showing the difference between Tamiya, Mr. Color and Testors paints. (Later I might do other variations, but I’ll always use HG Powered GMs for the test. It’s SCIENCE!)

And, as you can see, I got two more Decal sets. MG Sinanju Ver.Ka and a MG Zaku II J/F, which I’d gotten for my MG Zaku II S before I realized that Char’s Zaku decals are also the decals for his Gelgoog. I might have to make that part of October’s backlog, but I’m seriously running out of room! I need to finish the kits on my In-Progress shelf to make room for the other kits! It’s kinda overflowing, and with my current October purchases, I don’t know if I’ll have room to put any of them!

I’m thinking I should paint my Mechanical Chain Bases, but if I do, I’m just going to wash them instead of priming them… Would love to do some LED work with them! Anyone know a good tutorial?

I just placed an order for my first Master-Grade Zaku… Char’s Zaku II custom! I’m expecting it in about a week. I look forwards to building it, both physically, and in 3D. Hey, my 3D Gundam and GM have to have SOMETHING to fight. (Yes, I’m building a GM in 3D!) For 3D, I’m going to build the Char Custom, then remove the customizations to get a regular Zaku, based on photos of the regular MG Zaku. I’ll be thinking about “downgrading” the Zaku as I build it, so it shouldn’t be too hard to restore some of the parts. I’m going to also look into building interchangable, alternate backpacks for the Zakus, which will let me easily switch them from type F to type J. Speaking of which, does anyone know which type of Zaku the Char Custom is based on? I’m guessing F, but I’ve seen it work like a type J at times…

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve also uploaded some new Fun Gundam images. Lots of fun ones, plus a few Gundam AGE ones!

Speaking of AGE, I’m all caught up, and WOW. It’s a good series. We’re close to the end, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle the ending.

Finally, I want to inquire something; What kind of spray booth do you tend to use when airbrushing? I’ve found some in the price range I want, (around $100 or less) but they’re “not to be used with flammable paints”, which, of course, means all major brands of model paints usually used for Gunpla. So, I’m wondering what you tend to use. I would like to get brand and model names, so I can find it on Amazon or someplace similar… And as for building one myself, a quick pricing of my design places it well over $100 for a “quick and dirty” build with ventilation and filters. Maybe I’m just designing it wrong…

So, with my August paycheck, I managed to get some fun items! First off, I bought what I think, is the last Mechanical Chain Base 001 that HobbyLink Japan is going to sell. At the moment, they’re still selling 007 and 004, but that may change soon, and then they’ll be out completely. (004 is currently backordered, and then I’ll have one of those shipped to me.) I also managed to get Mechanical Chain Base 005 and 010 from Hobby Search. So far, I’m liking 010 and 007. Really wanted to get a 009, but that was discontinued the Friday before I got my check. *cries*

Anyways, I also got a Sinanju Head Base (kinda hard to find now, and I had to pay a lot more for it than I wanted to…) an Action Base 3, (my first action base!) a MG GM 1.0 edition, which from what I could determine, is actually more of a Super High Grade. Thinking I might get either a 2.0 or a OYW Gundam and do some mods to get the old armor onto the new frame. And, finally, I got a Zaku Warrior from SEED Destiny. But not just any Zaku Warrior… I got the Live Concert Version! While you can conceivably take any Zaku Warrior and convert it into this, I wanted the custom Decals/stickers for this kit.

Other things I bought (but did not photograph) include Pla-Plates, (7 sheets of 0.5mm from Plastruct, and 2 sheets of 1.0mm from Evergreen) paint of various kinds and colors, a plastic shoe box to hold all my paint supplies in, a Digital Caliper for measuring, a Plastic Cutter II from Tamiya (for scribing lines), and some Tamiya finishing abrasives. (AKA sandpaper.)

I was also happy to learn that my local hobby store now sells Tamiya paints! It also sells Evergreen pla-plates. Not sure if that’s new or not, I just don’t remember them selling it. Interestingly, the Plastruct is cheaper per sheet, but I got a 30-45 minute drive to get to the nearest store that sells it. I haven’t crunched the numbers yet, but I think that the cost of the gas kills the per-sheet savings versus buying Evergreen at the local store, which is only 10-15 minutes away.